Driving – finding the limits

Since I had a few people ask me the same question, I thought maybe I would clarify yesterday’s posting for everyone. I certainly do not want to reduce the joy we have with Frank being cleared for driving again. However, we still have a lot of things to do before he is work ready. Getting cleared to drive does not mean he is handed the keys to his car and he is ready for a high speed chase. I relate this to our daughter, who is fifteen, and how she is driving right now – when I allow it, locally, and under supervision.

I can tell you that that is not what Franks thoughts are on driving, but that is where we are for now.

The biggest factor with driving is fatigue, and although Frank and I talk about it often, he still does not recognize when he has maxed out. The best example I have is to go back to my buckets of fish. What happens when Frank is at a prolonged event, such as the Twins game, or a ride along – something that he has to expend lots of energy concentrating – is that his brain overloads. Instead of each fish (memory or thought that he needs to remember) jumping quickly from one bucket to the next, they start to slow down, moving slower and slower. The bucket starts to fill up as thoughts continue to come in, but they are not moving out quickly enough. This leads to the bucket overfilling, essentially dropping memories and thoughts on to the floor.

Right now he has a hard time recognizing when he is tired. Thankfully, I do not – and it allows me to alter his schedule when needed to ensure he does not get too tired. But when he does over do it, he essentially loses the entire next day, which is something that he find very frustrating. But that is head injury life – fatigue is what takes the longest to recover.